Marlins Stadium Update to Air Tonight on HBO's 'Real Sports'

[Omar]

HBO Tackles Miami Marlins' Mess

The business practices of the Miami Marlins have inspired words such as con and swindler and toxic.

But the ownership of Jeff Loria continues, despite these revelations and a huge disapproval rating. Want some context? In November, the Miami Herald conducted a survey of local residents. It found that Fidel Castro had a 1 percent favorability rating. Loria checked in at 6 percent.

HBO's "Real Sports" revisits the controversy of how the Marlins financed their stadium and the fan backlash to the trading of the team's biggest stars in its latest edition that premieres 10 p.m. ET/PT Tuesday. Here is a snippet:

ThePostGame

Video can be found in the link.

[Big Z]

Gumble: Have you heard the names you've been called?

Samson: Yes, but I bet you're going to tell me them.

Gumble: Carpetbagger, charleton, asshole.

[Flum]

Overall, it was a good segment, but it was a video version of a lot of the pieces we've seen in print over the last few months.

After Samson admitted that last season's failure was the organization's responsibility and that he's sorry it wasn't successful, I wish Gumbel would have asked Samson why the baseball operations department remained intact.

[Omar]

That's really the question that I've wondered why they haven't asked. The Marlins' take the blame for last year and felt that the restart was a must. Fine, but why keep the same people that built the failure in the first place?

[Beef]

I think the answer is easy enough. Granted, television folk don't generally avoid easy-to-answer questions. They trust these are the guys to handle the restart based on some good things in the past. You don't need to fire someone/everyone any time there is blame to go around. They made the moves we wanted and it didn't work out. We got Heath Bell, we eph'd up. Lesson learned, do better next time.

[Nick]

I think the answer is easy enough. Granted, television folk don't generally avoid easy-to-answer questions. They trust these are the guys to handle the restart based on some good things in the past. You don't need to fire someone/everyone any time there is blame to go around. They made the moves we wanted and it didn't work out. We got Heath Bell, we eph'd up. Lesson learned, do better next time.

If that truly is the answer, then therein lies the problem.

[Beef]

Yeah, but to some extent, we already know that's true, right?

[Nick]

Well, I think we all assume that is the case, but they would never come out and say what you posted above.

[Beef]

By the way, when I say "we" I mean the moves Samson/Loria told em to make (i meant to answer as one of them would answer the question). They have said that.

[Nick]

I know Loria and Samson have come out and said that they are to blame for the failure of last season, but I didn't think they came out and said that they were the ones behind individual transactions, and if they did say that. Why hasn't there been a follow up question, asking why they aren't letting Beinfest do his job?

[Omar]

I think the answer is easy enough. Granted, television folk don't generally avoid easy-to-answer questions. They trust these are the guys to handle the restart based on some good things in the past. You don't need to fire someone/everyone any time there is blame to go around. They made the moves we wanted and it didn't work out. We got Heath Bell, we eph'd up. Lesson learned, do better next time.

You're right, but the obviously follow up here is the Miguel Cabrera trade and yadda yadda yadda. We don't need to rehash the arguments for and against because all of us on this particular site know them, but I'd love for this to be the discussion point rather than simply 'were Miami-Dade taxpayers robbed?'

[Beef]

Yeah - I wouldn't trust the discussion to continue down the proper path following the company response

[Omar]

I'm not sure it would, either. But the more it came up in interviews, the higher the chance that it would become the major talking point surrounding this past offseason.

[Bobbob1313]

My thing is, "were the South Florida taxpayers robbed" should be a question that can be answered without regard to whether the Marlins are competitive or not. I don't find it to be a very interesting question, in this context.

[Namaste]

Just now on LeBatard (I'm paraphrasing):

Marlins fans have made the jump from angry fans to indifferent fans.